Essex Fire Service scoops EMEA gold innovation award

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service has won the gold innovation award at the SAP Quality Awards, which celebrates customers who have excelled in the planning and execution of their SAP software implementations.

ITProPortal has been on the ground at the SAP headquarters in Walldorf, Germany, where the award for the EMEA region was presented. It honours the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service's excellence as they implemented a brand new software solution into the business.

The UK organisation also took home silver in the medium implementation category, which was topped by Combined Group Contracting Co., supported by CSC.

The EC Fire & Rescue Service has implemented SAP's enterprise software to join up its people systems and optimise its operations.

Assistant Chief Fire Officer Paul Hill said, "We knew that the right technology could help us improve community service provision and optimise use of our staff but that adoption would be critical for success."

Evidently pleased to take home the awards, Hill said, "Having an independent assessment in an ICT product that says actually you've not only delivered it, but you've delivered it of a quality that matches public and private sector, gives a really strong message that we're right minded, that we're trustworthy, in an organisation that relies on its brand absolutely... to support the public."

On the judging panel for the innovation category was Lutz Lambrecht from HP, Trevor Harding from RCL Foods, and Wayne Johncock of the SAP Independent Executive Advisory Council, who also presented the award. Competitors were judged against SAP's 10 principles of quality.

The awards "clearly show how our customers are redefining their businesses with SAP innovations in order to succeed in today's very competitive and complex marketplace," said Yves Le Gelard, senior vice president of SAP EMEA services.

Guests had earlier enjoyed a lecture from Professor Andreas König of the University of Passau, who discussed strategic sensitivity and its importance for the innovative firm.

German multinational SAP makes enterprise software that offers CRM, analytics, people management and other services to multinationals and startups. The cloud-based SAP HANA houses real-time analytics and big data warehousing.